Intelligence – it’s your goal to unlock your dog’s intelligence so you can have a smart, fun pet.
Animals are much more capable of processing information and making informed decisions than we were ever taught.
Your dog, cat, horse, or bird understands language about like a 2 year old human. Don’t believe it? TRY my suggestions then you can tell me if your dog understands. Engaging and nurturing your pet’s intellect is fun for you and for your pet!
NAME & EXPLAIN developed by Kayce Cover ( Syn Alia Training Systems or SATS HTTP://Synalia.com) is the perfect method to unlock your pet’s intelligence and nurture a relationship of cooperation.
Name (label) and Explain
1. ANYTHING of FOCUS / interest to the animal, including sounds, odors, items, procedures, body parts, body functions, body state of emotion, (“water, that’s water”, food, that’s food”, “fire truck, that’s fire truck”, “neighbor noise, that’s neighbor noise”, “thunder, that’s thunder”, “jogger, that’s a jogger”,”kitty cat, that’s a kitty cat”, “squirrel, that’s a squirrel”, “bird, that’s a bird”, “pee, that’s pee”, “poop, that’s poop”,
Very helpful to name and define animal’s emotional state and expand his or her understanding by labeling excited and easy body parts. “Excited, your ears are excited”, easy, your ears are easy”. “Mouth breathing, you are mouth breathing”, panting, you are panting”, “Nose breathing, you are nose breaking”. “Excited, you are excited”, Easy you are easy” Once the animal understands body parts and their states, you can ask for “Easy ears”, “nose breathing, etc.
2. TOYS all toys should have a name/label too (kong, that’s your kong”, Mr Raccoon, that’s Mr Raccoon”, “red ball, that’s your red ball”, )
Cadence is helpful when labeling stimuli- consistent cadence alerts the animal that you are talking about something of interest to him or her
3. Any equipment that belongs to the animal (“collar, this is your collar”, “leash, this is your leash”, “bed this is your bed”) later you can introduce tight and loose leash pressure on the collar for walking. I label and demonstrate “red”when it’s tight, “green” when it’s loose while we are not walking then I can coach the dog about loose lead walking, “it’s red, can you show me green?” Slow slower / fast faster, stop/ let’s go, side / other side, in front / behind me are also good to label and helpful when teaching walk nicely on lead.
It’s helpful to also define / communicate your expectations of the animal while you do stuff to/with your pet.
4. Any procedure regarding the animal’s care, “I’m going to wipe your paws” (and you’re going to be so easy, yay”)
5. Any behaviors performed by the animal (“that’s yawn, you are yawning”, “that’s bark, you are barking”, “Scratching, you are scratching your hip”
6. Anything expected of the animal “And you are going to be easy”
7. Names of all other humans and animals in the household as well as guests
8. Body parts, left right, front back, side, (touch ear and say, “ear, this is your left ear”, touch other ear and say “ear, this is your right ear” I always take this opportunity to teach numbers with body parts. I say you have 2 ears, a right ear (as I touch the right ear and say that’s 1 ear) and a left ear, you have 2 ears” Same for other body parts (touch shoulder and say, “shoulder, this is your left shoulder, you have 2 shoulders, 1 is your left shoulder and 2 is your right shoulder”) front legs / paws, rear legs/paws (4 paws), . head muzzle nose mouth belly tail, teeth, etc NAME ALL! Your pet will have a new found respect for you. In addition you can use this knowledge to teach your pet, you might ask “can you place your front paws on the bed?, all 4 paws?”
9. Body parts status (easy vs. excited), “your eyes are easy” , your ears are excited”/ “you are barking” / you’re mouth breathing / panting / nose breathing” ) once the dog knows these terms you can ask for “nose breathing”, “easy ears”, etc to help your dog go from an excited state to a calm state. Teeth on / teeth off, paws on / paws off are good fro teaching manners.
10. It’s helpful to name opposing states / actions. Fast faster, slow slower, trot, run, over / under.
11. Rooms in your home, yard areas (“kitchen, this is kitchen”, “patio, this is patio” “flower bed, that’s flower bed”, then you can say, you are in the flower bed“, “your dinner is in the bathroom”, etc)
12. Now you’ll do the same when teaching basic and advanced commands. Terms like Pick up, carry, drop come in handy for fetch or for training “ carry this magazine to mom”
13. Name keys, phone, then you can teach find the keys / phone. All this is easily accomplished by the use of bridge and target, a component of SATS http://Synalia.com